September 28, 2010

The challenge at the moment is how to get out the vote in Wisconsin and other battleground states...

“We know that first-time voters are difficult to bring out in midterm elections, and this will be a test of the White House’s ability to motivate those voters,” he said. “And the message is simple: Even though Barack Obama’s name is not on the ballot, the future success of his agenda and his presidency is at stake.”

"People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up"... The president told Democrats that making change happen is hard and "if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place."

What if they were serious and they're not happy with what he did with the power they helped him win? The strong progressive opinion is anti-Obama these days. Don't be thinking that Madison is some kind of hardcore Democratic Party stronghold. It's not. This is a town where, in 2000, people resisted that notion that they should voted for Al Gore so Bush wouldn't win. What difference did it make? That was the argument I heard. "Bore and Gush" — remember that? It was important to vote for Ralph Nader. I heard that again and again. The President has taken his lefty fans for granted.

But I assume there will be a big crowd today — if it's not too hard to get through security. I, myself, will attend and put up with getting searched. I don't get jazzed up about seeing anybody in person, not even the President of the United States — not since 1975. But I am very interested in seeing how the crowd looks, getting some pictures, and talking to the people.

Obama is always like two moves behind what he should have done. He needs to fix one thing to show that he can.

Instead he flits and dithers from one grandiose reform to the next. Now he is on school reform- why should anyone believe he can fix schools based on what he has done to economy, jobs, spending, and Obamacare?

I find the focus on first-time voters interesting. It sounds like they depend on first time voters to win. I assume the vast majority of first time voters are those who have recently become old enough to vote. Does this not imply that those with more life experience are less likely to vote for democrats? What does this say about your party? When you focus on appealing to, essentially, adolescents, do not be surprised if adults are turned off by your message.

In the closing week of the campaign Fritz did some serious campaigning in his home state of Minnesota. I realized then that if was frightened of losing Minnesota, then Reagan was going to win in a landslide. And so it was.

Fast forward to 2010. If Obama has to campaign for his followers in Wisconsin -- in Madison no less -- then things are worse for the Democrats than I had hoped.

Do we really & truly need a school of government? It seems to me that may be part of our problem.

During the 2008 campaign, I heard a couple of guys on NPR talking about the dire need for a government service academy that would be on par with the military academies (West Point, Annapolis, Colorado Springs) and called for dollar-for-dollar fund matching.

I think what Obama doesn't seem to get is that many Republicans believe in weak central government because they actually perceive a danger to power being too centralized. They are not crazy paranoid-delusional bumpkins, to be pacified merely by being by example cool and unpossessed of emotional concern; nor do they cry and lose sleep at night over the Harvard-trained leaders of finance he thinks they idolize having an investment portfolio slightly smaller. Clear and great integrity alone could convince those who fear central government that a particular leader is worthy of more power. Those who would have the people allow them to take power unto themselves over the people have a higher responsibility to exercise it with integrity, or the people will wrest the loaned powers away from them.

A strong central government can be dangerous notwithstanding government is more accountable to the people than corporations are. Many conservatives are not against strong central government per se for no sane reason at all, but against strong central government because they very much fear it being corrupt. Caving into financial interests makes Obama seem Mussolini-like to liberals and yet won't endear him by compromise to many if not most conservatives, who will consider his marriage of corrupt-like behavior with a desire for strong central government rightly as strong evidence of the existence in liberalism and in him of what they feared so much it made them conservatives. Nobody wants a strong government that behaves as if corrupt, except the few elitists benefitting from the corrupt behavior (a small fraction of Republicans that also includes many Democrats), and even with them, it may be they say they want it more than they actually do. Would even a banana-farm-owner American prefer to live in a banana republic?

Obama is in Madison to hold a "get out the vote" rally. Which votes does he want to get out? He carried the voting districts on and near the University campus with more than 80% of the vote.

Polling date must be indicating that neither Feingold nor Barrett has anywhere near that plurality, or this event wouldn't be happening. Neither Feingold nor Barrett can win their respective statewide races without a massive plurality in parts of Madison near the UW campus and in parts of Milwaukee County.

Barrett isn't doing well enough in Milwaukee County to win statewide, so the big rally is being held in Madison. Good luck, Barrett.

Feingold's polling has him far behind Johnson nearly everywhere in Wisconsin. And Obama's negatives are so high that Feingold will once again decline to appear with Obama at a rally to get out the vote for Feingold.

I don't know - I think the internet has really changed everything political. The voters have speedy access to info and so they are fed up with both parties' illusions of effective and efficent ginormous govt.

Obama and family were in NOLA a month back, and went out for po-boys at Parkview Bakery. Looking at the description of security where you are, I don't understand why it's so different. Here, they had about 45 minutes to "secure" the restaurant, which is a big, old rambling Victorian house with a bar up front, a bunch of tables on a veranda, and more tables inside a room where you also line up to order at a window.

Obama ordered at the window along with everyone else in line. When he was done, they asked for his name (!) and he said "Barack." Then they told him the total. He looked surprised and got some cash from one of his entourage. Hey buddy, you ordered sammiches. Pay up!

About 10 minutes later the expediter brayed, over the PA, "Barrrraaackk! Your order's ready!" and that was it. Nothing fancy.

AJ Lynch, I think there's a big difference in values between Republican voters and the people they elect.

If I could trust Republican office-holders to focus solely on small government issues, I'd vote for them. I think many many people would (more than actually do) But as soon as they get elected, so many of them decide to act as Moral Policemen. I so don't want that.

What this country needs is a Small Government Party, a Welfare is Great Party, a Save the Unborn Party, and a Defense Over All party. Among others. This two-party system is a country killer.

I think it bears repeating that people yelling about taxes are not yelling (for the most part) for a complete removal of all taxes on their income. The overwhelming majority of adults realize that some taxation is necessary for a functioning state. The anger I see most often is the type directed at the wholesale waste of taxpayer revenue. Government waste, and it's ugly step-sister overreach, are the prime movers when it comes to taxes.

If I could trust Republican office-holders to focus solely on small government issues, I'd vote for them. I think many many people would (more than actually do) But as soon as they get elected, so many of them decide to act as Moral Policemen. I so don't want that.

The anger I see most often is the type directed at the wholesale waste of taxpayer revenue. Government waste, and it's ugly step-sister overreach, are the prime movers when it comes to taxes.

Just my $.02

Just another endless nano-minute example of crap government throwing away taxpayer money on an extraneous project and then not knowing what happened to the money, all overseen by the state Supreme Court Chief Justice!!!

Now, everything is on hold. The FBI is investigating. The court building could be moved to a new site, or built exactly as planned on JFK Plaza. Nobody knows. All that’s sure is that the state has already spent $12 million of your money on this debacle– and can’t account for where all that money went. We suggest checking the pipes and sewers leading from Castille’s gold-plated toilet.

Wish government officials were as prudent in spending taxes, as you in your well-spent $.02

Can anyone help me out? I've been trying to research whether George Washington had a cult of personality but so far I'm not getting any Google hits on that. Apparently the man really was humble in the face of a nation that elected him to President unanimously 2x.

"The entry gate, located at Park Street at the base of Bascom Hill, will open at 3:30 p.m. All who enter will undergo screening by metal detector. The program is expected to begin at 4:45 p.m., and will last several hours. "

So it's going 'til after dark -- several hours after 4:45 (As IF it'll start on time).

Too bad I can't go. I think it would be good people-watching, although the last time I went to a political rally -- Kerry in 2004 (I think), I was mortified at the adulation given by grown adults who should know better. So maybe it's just as well that I'll miss it. But my reason is better than Feingold's. Kids' sporting event.

It's the Train Man coming to town...if anybody can the Train Man can. Billions of Candy Dollars for Trains of our Imagination. That's what the Dems and the RINOs call effective government. Some body alert Sarah Palin that her anti-corruption skills are desperately needed in Wisconsin.

I agree that the Reps have acted like, well, Dems when in power. It'd be a good reason not to vote for them, if there were any hope of making the Dems back into small gov't types. (Not yet, anyway.)

But the moral policeman charge is weak. For every restriction on sex toy sales by the socons, you got a ban on incandescent bulbs--brought to you by the entirety of the Dem party (and probably some Reps, too).